This years Tour de France has been going on for two days, and now it is time for the third races. It is going to exciting to see what will happen and we are still so early on in the races that anything can happen.
The first race was arranged in Belgium, with both the start and the finish in Brussels. Now, that doesn't mean that it was a short race. It went all the way to Charleroi and before the contestants returned to Brussels again, they had been bicycling almost 200 km. The fastest of them all in the first race was the Dutch contestant Mike Teunissen riding for Jumbo-Visma. His team also won the second competition on July 7th, a race for teams which was only 27 kilometers, taking the contestants from the Royal Palace to Atomium. You can read more about these attractions in Brussels in our Brussels Guide.
But, isn't it Tour de France we are speaking of? And Brussels... that is Belgium!
Yes, that is true, but it is a habit in Tour de France to let some of the races be arranged in other nations from time to time. Not only have there been races in Belgium, but in earlier years there have been races in Spain, Germany, and also in Italy.
On July 8th, that is today, the race will start in Binche and the contestants will ride 215 kilometers before they reach their goal which is in Epernay. And as they reach Epernay, they have also crossed the Belgian border, meaning that they have reached France and will be ready to keep on competing in Tour de France, in France!
Tomorrow's competition will be 215 kilometers in total and will be between Reims and Nancy. If you want to watch the race online, this site will tell you how to watch it online: https://www.ipaddressguide.org/where-can-i-watch-tour-de-france-online/
Will Team Jumbo-Visna keep it up?
It is still very easy in Tour de France so it is hard to say anything for sure. But, Team Jumbo-Visna has gotten a fantastic start and it will be exciting to see if they can keep it up! It will also be interesting to see how last years winner Geraint Howell Thomas will do in the upcoming races. Last year, he was competing for Team Sky. This year he is competing with Team Ineos, and in the first race he crashed and ended up almost last in the entire race. But, in the team competition on the second day, they ended up on second place behind Team Jumbo Vista.
What do you look forward to in this years Tour de France? Which contestant do you cheer for and hope for? And which one do you expect to win? I would love to hear your thoughts about this years Tour de France.
A great place to go if you want more information about Tour de France is http://www.cyclingnews.com/ . There you will find news, results, schedules, standings and more!